This Is Us star Ron Cephas Jones has joined the cast of Venom.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the two-time Primetime Emmy Award nominated actor, who plays William “Shakespeare” Hill in the acclaimed television series, will be starring alongside Tom Hardy and Riz Ahmed in the story of the popular Marvel antihero – the first standalone feature to come out of Sony’s Spider-Man universe.
The specific role Ron will play has yet to be confirmed. But the 61-year-old has already been seen in a programme based on a Marvel superhero – Luke Cage playing Bobby Fish in the Marvel web series which streams on Netflix.
Luke Cage is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and shares continuity with the films of the franchise. But he is not expected to reprise the character for his role in Venom.
Ron’s signing comes after he was forced to pass on playing The Wizard in Shazam! an upcoming American superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name. He was replaced by Djimon Hounsou after leaving the project due to scheduling problems.
Directed by Ruben Fleischer, Venom is scheduled to hit cinemas on 5 October (18), in a story tracking Hardy’s character Eddie Brock’s transformation from investigative journalist to powerful alien symbiote.
Tom, who has taken on the titular role, recently spoke about the challenge of playing two characters simultaneously, noting that Eddie and alter-ego Venom interact with each other in many scenes.
“I was prepping two different characters throughout the movie and that was a challenge which I was really looking forward to,” the actor told Entertainment Weekly, recalling his time filming Legend, in which he played both Reggie and Ronnie Kray. “I had done that kind of before with this gangster movie that I’d played two twins in, so when this opportunity popped up to play Venom… the great thing about him is that he’s a Jekyll and Hyde character so I get to play two very different people within the same body.”
Michelle Williams, Scott Haze and Woody Harrelson have also been cast in the movie.
